Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ Teen Titans: Future Storm ❯ Stately Lover ( Chapter 20 )

 

“Teen Titans: Future Storm”

Arc 4: “Blood”

Chapter 4: “Stately Lover”

Disclaimer: The concept of Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. The characters of Nightstar, Mercury, Slade, Ravager, Brother Blood, and Zatara II do not belong to me, either; all except Mercury are owned by DC Comics and Mercury is jointly owned by DC and Marvel. In addition, if you recognize anybody from the animated series or original comics, it's assured that they're not mine, either.

Author's note: If you want to see the resolution to that cliffhanger I left you with in the last chapter, you'll see it in this chapter. I'll admit, some of this chapter was inspired by my friend Darkmoon Knight's work “Scarlet Embrace,” except I have demons and he has vampires. Check my Favorite Authors list in my profile and you'll find him there.

Moving on to the story itself, there will be a demon hunter from a rather well-known video game in it. Now, I haven't played the game myself, but I know the plot well enough. I just have to worry about getting his character right.

Now let's begin.

A week had passed since Leknaat had made her truce with Raven and the Titans. In that week, Jump City had become a war zone.

Demons rampaged through the Californian metropolis, killing each other and any human unlucky enough to cross their path.

In the sky, two demonic dragons did battle, one breathing fire and the other breathing cold. The fire-breathing dragon was colored black with crimson accents and golden eyes. The cold-breathing dragon was colored white with blue accents and pale blue eyes.

“The Granddaughter of Trigon will be mine!” the cold-breather roared.

“Never!” the fire-breather snarled. “She is mine!”

As the two dragons did battle, Nova Blue operatives on the rooftops below them looked up.

“What do you think?” an operative asked. “Let them waste each other, or do the wasting ourselves?”

“If we leave them to their own devices, they'll just kill somebody eventually,” the leader replied, hoisting his rifle into the sky. “Take them both out.”

“Yes, sir,” the other operatives chorused, raising their rifles as well and opening fire on both dragons, who maneuvered through the air with surprising alacrity for beings of their size.

“Damn, they're fast!” an operative shouted.

“Keep shooting!” the leader ordered.

Theoretically, an entity with superior speed to his or her opponents should be able to defeat those opponents with ease. However, it had been proven again and again that superior speed wasn't always a match for superior numbers. After all, those superior numbers had more angles with which to fire at their target and the target couldn't evade them all forever.

Thus, the fire-breather was struck in the wing. He roared in outraged agony and breathed a stream of flames at the Nova Blue operatives, who were protected from the worst of it by their armor. The cold-breather flew away from the scene, sensing an opportunity, but the fire-breather followed him despite his injured wing, tackling him.

The dragons continued to wrestle, until the cold-breather tossed the fire-breather away with immense force. The fire-breather landed in the bay between Jump City and Titans Island, roaring in pain. Cold water was not a good thing for fire dragons, since it drastically reduced their body temperatures. A sufficiently long immersion tended to prove fatal.

The fire dragon shifted into a human form, leather-clad with wrappings around his upper arms and calves. A black mask covered the lower half of his face and a shock of white hair adorned his head.

Kiryu swam as fast as he could to Titans Island, desperately hoping that he could make it before the ice dragon did. He wasn't that lucky.

“Damn it,” the draconic demon snarled as he redoubled his efforts.

By the time he made it, he was greeted by a seemingly young man with platinum blond hair and clad in a red coat.

“And who might you be, sunshine?” the red-clad young man asked.

“Get the hell out of my way,” Kiryu snarled in response. “I have to get in there.”

“You're after the girl, aren't you?” the young man deduced. “Sorry, but it's my job to make sure neither you nor any other demon gets to her.”

“If that's the case, then you'd better kill that ice dragon and stop worrying about me!” Kiryu snarled, springing out of the water and charging at the ice dragon with his arm-blades extended.

The ice dragon turned to Kiryu and breathed waves of cold at him, but Kiryu dodged and slashed the ice dragon, who roared in pain.

“Let's see how you like that, pk'tar,” Kiryu spat.

The ice dragon would have responded with another attack, but the red-coated young man pulled out two guns and fired both at him. The ice dragon let out another agonized roar. Kiryu jumped up and impaled the ice dragon in the chest with his blades, descending to the ground while still keeping his blades in the ice dragon's chest.

The ice dragon fled as the Titans made their appearance, along with Raven, Slade, Ravager, and Leknaat.

“Not that we couldn't have handled him ourselves, but we wanted to see how you did before we took action,” Slade greeted with menacing smoothness.

Kiryu snarled when he saw Leknaat.

“Relax, dragon,” Leknaat sneered. “I haven't made Samara my consort yet.”

Raven looked at Kiryu with a strong aura of disapproval and discontent.

“You're a dragon?” Samara asked.

“Yes,” Kiryu replied. “This form is the form I take for interacting with those other than my kind.”

“You wouldn't know a son of a bitch named Malchior, would you?” Raven asked acidly.

“We met once,” Kiryu answered, “shortly before that bastard sorcerer Rorek imprisoned him. Good thing that spell took him out, too.”

Raven didn't answer that. Instead, she turned to the red-coated young man.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Glad you asked, beautiful,” the red-coated young man replied flirtatiously. “The name's Dante, demon hunter extraordinaire, at your service.”

“How did you get here?” Nightstar asked.

“Ah, women,” Dante remarked. “Always asking questions.” He allowed himself a brief chuckle. “Actually, a friend of yours showed me the way. Dressed in a stage magician's outfit and acted kinda like a dick at random points.”

“Zatara,” Nightstar deduced.

Mercury sidled up to her and whispered, “Are you still pissed with him for breaking up with Avia?”

“Asshole broke her heart,” Nightstar whispered back. “Of course I'm still pissed.”

“We have other things to worry about right now,” Bladefire said. “The demons are tearing Jump City apart in their quest to claim Samara.”

“Don't I know it,” Dante agreed. “I had to kill my way across the city to get here. Freaking slaughterhouse.”

“You're half demon, aren't you?” Samara surmised.

“Yeah,” Dante replied. “My dad was a legendary demon like your granddad, but for entirely different reasons.”

“Such as?” Samara prompted.

“I actually recall a legend about a demonic warrior who was heretical enough to fight on behalf of humanity rather than against it like his brethren,” Ravager interjected. “His name was Sparda, the Demon Knight. Would he be the father you speak of?”

“Yeah,” Dante confirmed. “Anyway, you have any idea how we can get these demons to go back where they come from?”

“There's only one way they'll back off and that's if somebody claims Samara,” Raven answered. “Unfortunately, I wouldn't let any of them near her, not when there's somebody else she's already interested in.”

“You mean the firestarter?” Kiryu snarled jealously.

“How do you know?” Beast Girl asked.

“Because I've watched her,” Kiryu hissed. “I see them together. He is unworthy of her, a weak mortal undeserving of the sublime perfection that is Samara. He will not be a good consort.”

Before Inferno could protest, Samara spoke up.

“And what, pray tell, makes you think you'll be any better for me than Inferno?”

Kiryu merely stared at Samara, electric blue fire in his eyes.

“Can't answer, huh? That's ok; you've already given me my answer.”

“I suggest we quit this insipid squabbling and come up with a plan to drive away these demons before one of them forces himself -” he aimed a pointed stare at Leknaat - “or herself on Samara,” Slade cut in.

The Titans, Raven, Slade, Ravager, Leknaat, Kiryu, and Dante entered Titans Tower.

“Nice pad,” Dante commented. “I wouldn't mind living here for a while.”

“Glad you like it so much,” Inferno answered.

“Hey, we got a call,” Beast Girl said.

“Patch it through,” Bladefire ordered.

Beast Girl answered the call, letting it come through the mainframe in audio format. “Hello, Titans Tower, Beast Girl speaking.”

“Don't be cute with me,” the voice of the police chief answered. “Where's Nightstar?”

“She's here,” Nightstar said.

“In that case, I'd like you to come down to the police station for questioning,” the chief responded.

“Sure,” Nightstar conceded. “I'll be right there.”

“You'd better be,” the chief said before ending the call.

“What the hell was that about?” Dante asked.

“I'll find out when I get to the station,” Nightstar replied.

Once she arrived at the police station, Nightstar was guided into the chief's office . . . for personal questioning.

“Why am I here?” Nightstar asked.

“You're here because I have the feeling that you Titans know more about these monsters attacking our city than you let on,” the chief replied.

“What does that mean?” Nightstar asked.

“For the past week, this city has been invaded by monsters,” the chief continued. “Regular people can't exit their homes anymore for fear of being butchered by those creatures. We've had to remove them from the city for their own safety; at least the ones that actually made it past those monsters. Nova Blue is doing everything they can, but whatever those creatures are, they're simply too strong, too resilient, and too numerous.

“Another thing I've noticed is the company you're keeping these days. Would a master criminal by the name of Slade ring any bells?”

“An alliance of necessity,” Nightstar answered. “That's all I can say.”

“I only hope he doesn't drag you down into his filth,” the chief said. “Going back to our main topic, what do you know about these monsters?”

“What I know is that you're unequipped to handle them,” Nightstar replied. “They aren't Plasmus or Cinderblock. They're far worse.”

“What are they?” the chief inquired, impatience showing in her tone.

“There are some things you just aren't prepared to handle,” Nightstar responded. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have a city to defend.”

The Titan leader stood up and departed the chief's office.

“So what happened?” Bladefire asked once Nightstar had returned.

“The chief thinks we know more than we're willing to tell, which in her eyes makes us at least partly responsible for what's happening,” Nightstar answered.

“What did you tell her?” Dante asked.

“Nothing,” Nightstar replied. “There are things in this world that normal humans aren't prepared to handle. I know that.”

At that moment, Melchiah chose to make his appearance. Everyone present instantly took a fighting stance.

“Relax,” the fallen angel spoke. “I'm not here to harm you. Only to help.”

“Really?” Inferno asked suspiciously, letting his skin become wreathed in flames.

“To be honest, I could care less what happens to the humans of this city,” Melchiah replied. “If I had my way, this entire planet would be nothing but a distant memory. Of course, the demons that are pillaging your precious city are after my future consort . . . and I cannot let that happen. Therefore, I lend you my assistance.”

“Under the same condition I gave Leknaat, and this goes for you, too, Kiryu: You don't touch Samara,” Raven stated. “The minute I even so much as sense one of you making a move on her, I will make it so that hell will look like heaven after your last moments on this plane. Got me?”

Melchiah just smirked. “You have my word, Raven. I will not lay a hand on your daughter. And I'll make sure that Leknaat and Kiryu behave themselves.”

“Trying to get in good with your `future' mother-in-law so that she'll be more open to letting you claim Samara?” Dante surmised sarcastically.

“There is the not-so-small matter of Brother Blood,” Ravager interrupted. “He's still out there.”

“Oh, that piddling mortal?” Leknaat asked contemptuously. “He ran from me.”

“He's after Samara,” Inferno replied. “You might want to take that seriously if you expect to be her consort.”

“We need to cast a protection spell,” Raven said. “A barrier around the Tower to prevent intruders of a supernatural nature from entering.”

“Sounds good in theory,” a familiar roguishly lilting voice spoke. “But you're forgetting one thing: You'll be locking out your allies as well as your enemies.”

“Zatara,” Nightstar greeted frostily.

“And a good evening to you, Nightstar,” Zatara II answered.

“Already considered that,” Raven said. “All I need is a drop of your blood and you can pass through the barrier without being harmed.”

Beast Girl groaned. “Aw, man. Blood makes me squeamish.”

“I'll get the microscope slides,” Mercury said, speeding away and coming back with several microscope slides.

Raven calmly withdrew blood from Zatara II, Samara, Ravager, Dante, and the three demons, placing the drops on each slide. She withdrew blood from herself and placed the drop on the last slide before going outside to perform the spell.

For the next twenty minutes, the assembled group heard chants in Azarathian tongue.

“Is that the protection spell?” Mercury asked.

“Yeah,” Zatara II replied.

“Cool,” Mercury said.

Once the spell was over with, Raven reentered Titans Tower.

“Now we'll see whether it works,” she said.

“How?” Beast Girl asked.

Slade pointed outside, drawing the Titans' attention to a legion of demons making their way to Titans Tower from the air. Kiryu left the Tower, prepared to fight.

“Doesn't he realize that I just cast a protection spell?” Raven asked.

“Yes,” Samara replied. “He just wants an excuse to kill something.”

Kiryu jumped to the top of Titans Tower and extended his arm-blades.

“Time to die,” he growled. The blades glowed with hellfire and he swung them in twin arcs, creating waves of unholy flame that incinerated the entire demonic mass upon contact. Satisfied, he re-entered the Tower.

“The protection spell won't work,” Ravager stated grimly.

“Why not?” Raven questioned with a dangerous look in her eye.

“Because we're doing nothing except hiding,” Ravager answered. “And that won't work forever.”

“It'll work until we come up with a plan for driving those demons away,” Raven retorted.

“There's only one plan we know will work for sure and that's to let one of us claim her,” Kiryu interposed.

“And what makes you think I'll let any of you touch her?” Raven asked acidly.

“You might change your mind within another week of those lower beasts rampaging through this city,” Kiryu replied with an electric gleam in his blue eyes. “Think about it, Raven. Are you willing to let your precious humans die just to keep your daughter pure?”

A tense silence followed for what seemed like an eternity but was really only a minute or so at the most. Finally, Samara broke the silence.

“I'd sooner let this entire city burn than let any of you touch me,” she spat, glaring at Kiryu, Leknaat, and Melchiah before warping through the floor and rematerializing in her own room.

Raven warped after her.

“We're protected inside the Tower,” Bladefire said, “but Brother Blood is still out there. I say we find out where he's holed up.”

“I need something of his,” Zatara II said.

Ravager pulled out a bloody kunai. “How about this? Has his blood on it.”

Zatara II took the blood-stained kunai and placed it on a table. He spoke in reverse.

“Erehw si Rehtorb Doolb?”

The kunai glowed and spun around before pointing outside the Tower, toward the northeast.

“All right, so he's that way,” Nightstar concluded. “Zatara, recon.”

“Sure thing,” Zatara II answered. “Mind if I borrow your motorcycle? All that walking is gonna be a pain.”

“Go ahead,” Nightstar allowed. “Just don't get it scratched. I'll hurt you if it's scratched.”

Zatara II just tipped his hat to her and winked mischievously at her before going to the vehicle bay and borrowing her motorcycle.

He came back about two hours later.

“The bastard's underground,” he said. “Literally. I did manage to track him to a church. Church of Sebastian, to be precise. His lair must be underneath.”

“That's a pretty good cover,” Dante remarked. “Hiding a demon-worshipping sorcerer underneath a church.”

Samara sat in her room, resisting the urge to cry. To think that this horror had happened - was happening - because she had fed from her best friend. Even now, she felt the bloodlust curling within her, ready to spring out of its cage and take control of her again.

“Samara?” Raven asked.

“I'm not all right, Mother,” Samara replied. “In fact, I'm scared. I don't want them. They don't . . . love me. I scanned their emotions and never once did I feel any trace of affection for me. They just want to possess me . . . and I want someone who'll . . . love me.”

Raven gently embraced her daughter.

“Who are you thinking of?” she asked.

Samara faintly blushed.

“It's Jeremiah,” Raven deduced, a gentle smile on her face.

Samara nodded.

“You'll have to hurry if you want to claim him,” she murmured gravely. “Our so-called allies won't wait for you to choose a consort forever. Eventually, one of them will lose their patience.”

Samara nodded again. Raven kissed her gently on the forehead.

“Sleep well,” the older of the two empathic part-demons whispered before warping back to join the Titans.

“It's late,” Nightstar said back in the main room of Titans Tower. “We should get some sleep. Or rest, for those of you that might not necessarily need to sleep. A Titan will escort each of our `guests' to a reserved room.”

“How about escorting me?” Dante asked, flirtatiously grinning at the Titan leader.

“Sure, but if I catch your hand going somewhere it shouldn't be, I'm breaking it,” Nightstar replied.

“I'll be good,” Dante leered.

Nightstar groaned as she escorted Dante, the half-demonic demon slayer staying just a little behind her to check out her shapely posterior.

Meanwhile, Bladefire was escorting Ravager to her room, while Mercury escorted Slade to his room. The reason Mercury had been chosen to escort Slade was that the speedster could remain several steps ahead of the mastermind, provided the mastermind hadn't already planned out an attack. Bladefire had chosen to escort Ravager because of his experience in fighting her . . . and in the hidden corner of his mind, he was dying to embrace her again.

As soon as Ravager noticed that nobody was looking, she pulled Bladefire into her reserved room and began kissing him fiercely. Bladefire kissed her back just as passionately, a need burning in both their veins.

Bladefire pulled away to remove Ravager's mask and Ravager removed the tie binding his hair.

“I need you,” she murmured.

They kissed again, this time on the bed, Bladefire on top of Ravager, the assassin moaning breathily as the half-Tamaranean kissed her throat.

Meanwhile, Inferno had finished his escort duty for Kiryu, who had done nothing but take potshots at him. The draconic demon's last words had stuck with the pyrokinetic.

“You'll never be able to protect her.”

Inferno returned to his room and sighed, changing into a pair of sleeping pants. He looked out into the city, observing the carnage from far away.

“What a mess,” he murmured. “What a freaking mess.”

“Jeremiah?” Samara's voice asked.

“Samara?” Inferno asked.

“May I come in?” Samara asked.

“Sure,” Inferno replied.

The door slid open and Samara entered. It was mostly dark, but there was just enough light for the pyrokinetic to discern her lack of clothing.

“Why are you naked?” Inferno asked.

“Because I've made my choice,” Samara answered. “And I choose you.”

“Me?” Inferno wondered.

“I can't have a consort I can't trust,” Samara explained. “Kiryu, Leknaat, and Melchiah - I don't trust any of them. They don't actually care for me; they just want to possess me. I don't want to be a possession; I want to be loved.”

“You already are,” Inferno whispered softly.

“I know,” Samara whispered. “That's why I chose you.”

“Do you . . . love me?” Inferno questioned, anticipating and fearing the answer simultaneously.

“Yes,” Samara replied.

“Lights at forty percent,” Inferno spoke, and the lights in his room came on, somewhat dim but enough for him to see that his best friend and consort-to-be was definitely nude.

The partly demonic empath closed the distance between them and kissed the pyrokinetic, the first kiss of her choosing and the pyrokinetic's first kiss ever.

End Notes: All right, I don't need to spell out what's going to happen; you older readers ought to know what happens when a naked girl shows up in a guy's bedroom.

If you play or heard of the Devil May Cry game series, you certainly might recognize Dante. Why is he here in 2031? Considering that he's half demon, one could easily figure that his demon blood would give him an extended lifespan and he'd still be able to kick a lot of ass.

For those of you who are action-starved, there will be plenty of it in the next chapter, which will most likely be my final one for this arc. After that, it's a few standalones and then there's the next arc, which will introduce the Titans East of 2031! Look forward to it!

Meanwhile, you're free to tell me what you thought of this chapter, good or bad.